On Wednesday night, the township commissioners voted unanimously to start the process of acquiring an abandoned gas station property at the intersection of Cowpath and Orvilla roads, a key parcel needed for the possible realignment of that intersection.

“This is the first step of many in making that a safer and more efficient intersection,” said Township Manager Aaron Bibro.

“The technical term is that we are condemning the property, but it’s what we consider a friendly condemnation process — it’s agreed upon by the seller and there are advantages to going through that process for both sides,” he said.

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Located on the northwest corner of that offset intersection, the vacant gas station is technically located at 1505 Cowpath Road and has been owned by 1505 Cowpath Associates LP, headquartered in Bala Cynwyd, since 2009, according to Montgomery County property records.

Plans prepared by township traffic engineering firm McMahon Associates in the mid-2000s show how the intersection would be converted from two offset T-intersections with traffic lights to one four-way intersection: the northern portion of Orvilla would curve slightly west of the current roadway and be widened to four lanes — one lane northbound and three southbound, with left and right-turn-only lanes flanking a center lane for through traffic. Those four lanes would traverse the current gas station property, and a new driveway access would be created to link a portion of the current Orvilla Road, which would still be accessible from a slightly widened Cowpath Road.

As of Aug. 1, the Act 209 fund balance was roughly $727,000 and this property acquisition will use “a large portion of that,” according to Bibro, who said the acquisition is moving ahead now that the site has gotten “a clean bill of health environmentally” from the state Department of Environmental Protection.

“Improving traffic congestion is a priority for Hatfield Township, and this is a way to work on that without using taxpayer money,” he said.

Once the property acquisition is finalized in the next two to three months, township staff will be responsible for maintaining and police for patrolling the site, and Bibro said the township will be in touch with the state because the project involves Cowpath and Orvilla, which are both state roads.

“The plan calls for more acquisitions, which are not in our plans right now,” Bibro said, “and we’re talking about two state roads, so we would like to see some involvement from PennDOT at some time in the future.”

Residents are reminded that curbside pickups of bagged leaves will take place during the weeks of Nov. 3 and 17 and Dec. 1, with a pickup of branch bundles scheduled for the week of Nov. 10. For details and guidelines, visit the township website, www.HatfieldTownship.org.

The commissioners have also rescheduled several upcoming public meetings due to conflicts with holidays in November and December. The township’s finance committee will meet to discuss the 2015 budget at 7 p.m. on Oct. 15; the commissioners will next meet at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 22, and a budget workshop will be held at 7 p.m. on Oct. 29. Starting in November, meeting dates will shift from the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month to the first and third Wednesdays in November and December, resulting in board meetings at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 5, Nov. 19, Dec. 3 and Dec. 17, according to Bibro.

All of those meetings will be held at the township administration building, 1950 School Road; for more information or meeting agendas and materials, visit www.HatfieldTownship.org or follow @HatfieldPA on Twitter.